Underwater photographer of the year – winner. Dancing Octopus by Gabriel Barathieu (France). Location: Island of Mayotte, off the coast of south-east Africa. “Balletic and malevolent”, one judge said of this octopus, hunting in a lagoon. Barathieu waited until spring tides when there was just 30cm of water on the flats and plenty of light in the shallows. (Photo by Gabriel Barathieu/UPY2017)

Some of the best entries so far in the 2016 Insight Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition. There are two weeks left to enter, and the winners will be announced in September. Here: Aurora over Laksvatn Fjord, Laksvatn, Norway. The aurora borealis dances in the skies over the town of Laksvatn, with the Milky Way to the left. The image is a single shot with no compositing, only post-processing to bring out the aurora, and some colour corrections. The photographer Matt Walford said: “I love the way the northern lights look like they are just wistfully dancing over the fjord, framed by the mountains on either side”. (Photo by Matt Walford/National Maritime Museum)

People take pictures of the sun rising next to the buildings of the banking district in Frankfurt, Germany, Saturday, December 28, 2019. (Photo by Michael Probst/AP Photo)

Smoke rises from a house days after part of the ground it was resting on collapsed into Lake Whitney, Texas in this June 13, 2014 file photo. I was covering the controlled burn of a house slowly falling into Lake Whitney due to the decaying cliff underneath. Asked to take photos from an aerial perspective, an instructor and I took off from Grand Prairie Municipal Airport around 9am. The burn, scheduled to start an hour later, was delayed. I love flying, but patience proved challenging as circling for nearly three hours gets boring fast. Once the fire started we only had 15 minutes to take photos because the plane was booked at 1pm. The owners invested their retirement savings in the house and were even advised by geologists that the ground was stable. To watch your investment literally go up in flames must take its toll emotionally. The owners said they don't expect their insurance to cover the loss. (Photo and caption by Brandon Wade/Reuters)

Sumo wrestler Kaiho eats a “chanko” meal in Nagoya, Japan on July 18, 2017. After ending practice at 10:30 a.m., the wrestlers mingle with fans, sign autographs and pose for photos before the first of their two daily meals. (Photo by Issei Kato/Reuters)

Wild elephants, including a tusker (C), rummage through garbage dumped at an open ground in the village of Digampathana in north- central Sri Lanka on August 19, 2017. Sri Lanka has banned the dumping of garbage at open fields and near wildlife reserves, but the practice continues. (Photo by Lakruwan Wanniarachchi/AFP Photo)

Kim Kardashian arrives for the Thierry Mugler exhibition opening at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts in Montreal, Chittenango, United States of America on February 26, 2019. (Photo by Splash News and Pictures)

A coach wipes away tears and comforts a girl who was feeling tired during gymnastics lessons at the Shanghai Yangpu Youth Amateur Athletic School in Shanghai, China, May 4, 2016. (Photo by Aly Song/Reuters)